“I am proud to be the first African-American woman to run for lieutenant governor, and when we win, to be the first Democratic African-American woman to be lieutenant governor in our nation's history,” Ivey said in a statement. “I am even prouder to be given the opportunity to fight for the causes and values I share with Doug.”

Ivey expressed common goals with Gansler, from expanding pre-kindergarten to helping Maryland families keep their homes. She also expressed support for raising the state's minimum wage, preferably in the upcoming legislative session in January.

“We are both committed to doing something about the inequalities in our public schools,” Ivey said in the statement. “We both hate discrimination and recognize the need to have a government that reflects the rich diversity of our great state.”

Ivey has served in Maryland's House of Delegates since 2007. She has been a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Her selection gives Gansler's campaign strong representation from the heavily populated suburbs of the nation's capital. Gansler is from neighboring Montgomery County. Gansler had indicated he would choose someone from either Prince George's County or the Baltimore area, Maryland's other vote-rich jurisdiction that candidates from the Washington suburbs often consider to represent their ticket.

“This is a great day for Maryland, a great day for Jolene Ivey, a great day for the five boys she has raised, for her husband Glenn Ivey, and most significantly it is a great day for Maryland women and for Prince George's County,” Gansler said in the statement from his campaign. Ivey's husband, Glenn, served two terms as Prince George's County state's attorney.

Ivey, of Cheverly, is a member of the Legislative Black Caucus, the Women's Caucus and the Democratic Caucus. Last year, she sponsored a constitutional amendment that requires politicians found guilty of a felony or specified misdemeanors to be removed from office at conviction rather than sentencing. Voters approved the constitutional amendment last year.